Made it...

33 weeks 3 days...

After a week of admin followed by four days of packing, we made it to Barcelona on Thursday.  With six suitcases (one of them brand new - bought at the airport to free up some kilos so that our bags were allowed on the plane),  two rucksacks and a handbag.  I swear most of the stuff was Ivan´s - he says it´s mine.  We won´t settle that one for a while as who knows when we´ll get to unpack.

Packing up the flat in London and our worldly belongings was harder and more emotional than I thought.  As always, the task filled to the time, and what started as careful rationalised thought over what to throw, pack, donate to charity, store etc. by Wednesday evening had turned into just about everything in the bin.  Seven years in one place makes for a lot of stuff.  The process - oddly tear-jerking - has at least forced us to cleanse and rationalise before our impending arrival.  But hopefully not for a few weeks yet as we have a flat to find and a hospital to register with.  The UK postal strike meant that none of my health documentation arrived, so fingers crossed that I´ll be looked after.

It´s roasting here.  I was settling into the English autumn (my favourite season), and here I am propelled back to 25 degrees and swollen hands.  The rings will need to come off soon.

As for finding a flat, we started yesterday.  The first we saw was big with questionable decor, but we think could live with that.  It´s up a great big hill which could be good for the inevitable post natal quest to try to at least regain a bit of shape.  The second we saw can only be described as grim.  The bathroom window opened out into the kitchen.  Anyone for simultaneous crapping and cooking...?

It´s a bank holiday weekend here this weekend so the mission starts again on Tuesday.  The clock is ticking....two weeks to find something or I´m out of here.  Tried and failed.

The only thing that anyone seems to care about is that we still haven´t come up with a name.  I´ll just have to get used to the accusing and negligent looks.  We´ve still got ages.  And besides - he might not look like the one that we choose.  Today´s chart topper is Luc Alexander Pedrazas (is LAP appropriate?).

In the last two days I´ve had a new fruit...chirimoya, and discovered that in Spain that sweet potatoes are eaten for dessert - just roast and add sugar.